25/40 Play clock

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Rich

Last night the timer came to our locker room. Has been doing it a long time. Nice guy.

I warned him that my wind after a first down inbounds could be really quick -- maybe a second after the clock stops if the ball is inside the hash marks.

Then I found myself winding....and winding....and winding.....

At some point the timers will catch on, but I am not changing our mechanics. They need to adapt to us, not us adapt (forever) to them.

Wow. When NCAA first adopted the business of stopping the clock to reset the chain -- close to 50 years ago -- that provision didn't even reference the ready-for-play. It just provided for time out of the period while that marker was being moved, independently of when the ball was ready for play -- which is weird to my mind. (At that time, when it was goal to go, the front stick was placed on the sideline with the chain stretched in the end zone, same as it would've been in the field of play, rather than laid down.) It did noticeably lengthen games, enough to increase scoring.